Endless water course



p 933 J. w. LIPPINCOTT ENDLESS WATER COURSE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov.11, 1931 INVEN TOR.

Sept 1 J. w. LIPPINCOTT 1,926,780

ENDLESS WATER COURSE Eiled Nov. 11, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR FIG.10

Patented Sept. 12, 3

were STATES PATENT OFFICE ENDLESS wA'rnaooURsE John w. Lippincott,Little Rock, Ark.

Application November 11, 1931 Serial No. 574,375.

9 Claims. (Cl. 104-73) My invention relates to aquatic sports, and theprincipal object is to provide means whereby tobogganists may glidedownthe usual natatorium slide on a" buoyant toboggan sled, plunge intostanding water, and by virtue of their momentum coast into anendless'stream of water, holding onto a rung, or other suitable handhold attached to said toboggan sled, and coast without effort round andround'thetobogganwater course, un-

til an attendant stops them by manipulating gates to obstruct thetoboggan water course, and

shunt thecurrent, said tobogganists and their sleds into a landingcompartment, and" onto a landing dock which isiocated near a stairwayleading up to the top of atower where they may boggan sled, and aportion ofthe toboggan water course with a portion of the wall removed.

Fig. 3 is an end'view of a-portion of'the walls of either the endlessdownstream swimming course, or of the toboggan water course- Fig. 4 is aperspective of a water toboggan sled.

Fig. 5 is an elevation View of reciprocally interconnected gatesas theyappear when looking down stream from the arrow 35, and themeans, bywhich these gates are manipulated.-

Fig. 6 is a front view of an elongated nozzle.

Fig. 7 is an end View of Fig. 6,--with its cap removed.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a snubbing device. I

Fig. 9 is a front view of a reticulated wall.

Fig. 10 ispa detail end view of a portion of Fig.

1, showing several parts and fragments of other partspertaining tothetoboggan water course with wall and water removed.

Similar letters and numerals refer parts throughout the severaldrawings.

Fig. 1 illustrates an artificial pond designated by A, graded to variousdepths ior variouspur poses. The portion designated by B is shallowwater and is intended for children who cannot swim, slope to eighteeninches, or two feet deep at the other end. All other portions should befour feet deep, except the portion designated by D which should be tenfeet deep f or divers. Also the banks may slope from the bottom'at anydesired angle,

to' similar and should be one foot deep at one end and swimming course,and is bounded by walls '1 and to confine the current. F and F arenozzle headers used herein to produce the current, and

each is composed of two pieces of ordinary galvanized pipe 2 and 2'which are slit from end to end as shown in detail Figures 6 and 7. Theslits are designated by 3 and should be onesixteenth of an inch wide.The outer end of each pipe must be closedbya plug or cap 4, but theinner ends of these two pipes are provided with threads and screw intoopposite ends of a T 5,

thus forming a nozzle header designated by F which connects through saidT with the dis-' charge line 6 of a'pump G provided with a suction line56. The T may also be slit, so that when the pump G is actuated a streamwill emergeirom the slits 3 as a sheet of water as wide asthenozzle'hcader is long. The nozzle header F is positioned in a nozzlechamber H which is recessed into the right or outside wall 1 of theendless down stream swimming course E, anda similar nozzle header Fispositioned in asimilar nozzle chamber H recessed into the left ofinner wall '1' and similarly connected with the same pump. As shown inFig.

stalled in the other channel of the endless down stream swimming'courseif so desired. Any desired angle as to the horizontal of the nozzlestream may be afforded by slightly screwing or unscrewing the nozzlepipes. There is no adjustabilityof the aperture (slits) provided for, asnozzles of this kind can be made so much cheaper than'any other that itis thought it will be'more expedient to makeand keep on hands severalnozzle headers with various widths of apertures, as a change can be madein a few minutes.

"The reason for having nozzle headers positioned on the sides as shownherein instead of at the ends ofthestretches is that a stream of waterthat is discharged at the end (beginning 7 1 another similar currentproducing means may be in or" a stretch) will have to have such velocityas willcarry it beyond the curve of the rounded corner of the inner wallbefore it contacts the surface in order to prevent an eddy at saidcorner; therefore it will have to span a much but if the swimming courseis serviced by one or more pairs of nozzle headers positioned on thesides as shown herein the nozzle velocity may be reduced to almostnothing regardless of the width of. the swimming course. The combinedlength of each pair of nozzle headers should aggregate the widthof theswimming course, in

order to avoid as much as possible the lessening of the surface currentby divergence.

The ob'ect of featuring the endless down stream swimming course E hereinis to show that the combination of swimming, wading, diving andtobogganing makes a well balanced and there-- fore, a very desirableplant, and besides the nozzles and their positioning as shown herein areequally applicable for either swimming or tobogganing water courses.

The toboggan water course I which for thev sake of brevity willhereinafter be referred to as the toboggan course and the endless downstream swimming course E will hereinafter be referred to as the swimmingcourse are installed in an artificial pond A, which is graded to variousdepths for the various purposes. The walls 1 and 1' are constructed ofwood and need to only extend from six inches above the surface to 20 twoor three feet below.

For the sake of endurance concrete is the ideal material to use forwalls and floor for all purposes herein contemplated.

Should it be decided to install a swimming course, or a toboggan course,or a combination of both in an artificial pond, a plot of ground shouldbe selected near an adequate supply of clear water, easily accessibletopatrons who may come in street cars, trains, busses and automobiles,and with plenty of parking space for the latter.

A valved drainage line J should be provided at the lowest level of thewadable water. If a diving compartment is included it should be aboutten feet deep, hence there would be sixfeet of water left in this deeppart when the rest is emptied, unless the drainage line J is set at alower level, but I think that in most cases it will be more expedient topump out this six feet of,

Water, as deep drainage lines are frequently a source of muchinconvenience and expense.

As shown at the bottom of Fig. 1 the toboggan course I comprises walls'7 and 7, and like the walls 1 and l in Fig. 3 are made of lumber,extending from six inches above the surface to two or three feet belowthe surface (there is however, no objection to these walls being madewater tight from top to bottom), a landing compartment K bounded on theright side by the wall '7 provided with a reticulated panel 8, and theleft side is bounded by a short reticulatedwall 8",

and the down stream end is bounded by a header 34. This landingcompartment includes a landing dock L. Said toboggan course furthercomprises gates M and N, tower O, toboggan sleds P, nozzle headers Q andQ respectively positioned in nozzle chambers R and R respectivelyrecessed into the walls 7 and 7', a pump S provided with discharge lines11 connected with said nozzle headers, a plunging compartment Y, and aspillway T. All of these parts function and co-operate with each otheras follows: Viz. as shown in detail Fig.5 the gate M slides up and downin a groove 12 in the column.13 set into the wall '7 and a groove 14 inthe column 15 set into the reticulated wall 8', and the gate N slides upand down in another groove 16 in the column 15 and a groove 17 in thecolumn 18 set into the wall '7. A beam 19 extends from the top of column 13 to the top of column 15 through the center of which is mortisedan opening 20. to provide opening 23 to providea bearing for a groovedpulley 24. The gates M and N are respectively provided with suspensionchains 25 and 25 respectively attached to said gates about two feet fromeach end and each suspension chain is provided with a hook 26. The gatesM and N are reciprocally connected by a chain 27 provided on each endwith an eye 28, one end of said chain 27 extends through the opening 20in beam 19 to "engage the suspension chain of the gate M and the otherend of chain 27 extends through the opening 23 in beam 22 to engage thesuspension chain 25 of the gate N. This interconnecting chain 27therefore works over the grooved pulleys 21 and 24, and to hold it inproper alignment it works around another grooved pulley 29; providedwith a guard 30, said pulley 29 being positioned horizontally over thecolumn 15. The gate M should be heavier than the gate N and a stop 31 isattached to the interconnecting chain .27 at such a point as willnormally permit the gate M to rest with its upper edge six inches abovethe surface whensaid stop 31 contacts with the top side of the beam 19,and when said gate M is down it should extend to two feet below thesurface, and it should be heavy enough when down to hold the gate N sothat its lower edge will be two feet above the surface. A rope 32 isconnected to said stop 31 and extends in a straight line to the tower 0where an attendant may pull onit to open said gate M and automaticallyclose the gate N. Said gates M and N may be held in this position byengaging the rope 32 with a snubbing device 33 as shown in Fig. 8.

Obviously a Windlass or block and tackle may be utilized to engage therope 32 and open the gate M.

In order to let the gate M down it will only be necessary to disengagethe rope 32 from the snub and it will descend by virtue of its weightand automatically pull the gate N up.

When the pump S is actuated and the gate M is up an endless stream ofwater will be produced in the toboggan course on which the tobogganistsmay coast round and round until an attendant disengages the rope 32 fromthe snub 33 to cause the gate M to descend and obstruct thetoboggancourse, and by virtue of its greater weight the gate N isautomaticallyraised, which shunts the current and the tobogannists andtheir sleds from the toboggan course into the landing compartment K.

The landing compartment K comprises an obtuse area bounded on the rightby the wall '7, but which at this point should be provided with areticulated panel 8 extending from six inches above the surface to thebottom of the pond and from the column 18 to a header 34, which boundsthe down stream end of the landing compartment, and the left side ofsaid landing compartment is bounded by a reticulated wall 8, asshown'in'Fig. 9, and extends from the column 15 to the header 34 andfrom six inches above the surface to the bottom of the pond. The landingcompartment K is provided with a landing dock'L, starting at the bottomof the pond near the gate N-and sloping upward for about twenty feet towithin a foot of the surface and then extending as a submerged fiatplatform 36 to the header 34. The header 34 is solid from six inchesabove the surface to the submerged platform 36 and then reticulated tothe bottom of the pond. The landing dock L as shown in Fig. 10, ismerely a sloping floor to where it connects with the submerged platform36 and is as wide as the landing compartment K, and said landing dockand its platform are composed of boards spaced about one-half inchapart, andmay be laid laterally or longitudinally, as shown in Fig. 2.

The object in extending-the header Si'an'd the reticulated wall 8' andthe reticulated panels to the bottom is toprevent patrons fromintentionally, or accidentally-diving under the landing dock L wherethey might lose their sense of direction and possibly be drowned.

-If the walls of-the landing compartment K. and the-floor of the landingdock L were all solid. no current would pass into, nor throughisaid theopen gate N its divergent property becomes efiective and it immediatelycommences to flow through the reticulated wall 8 and thereticulatedpanel 8 in wall 7 and thereby tendsto dissipate said current. If thereticulated spaces are too coarse, the current will be dissipated tooquickly and the tobogganists will be stopped before they reach theirdesired landingpoint, which is near the stairway U, also if the currentis 'dissipated too rapidly the tobogganists will side swipe the wallswhich is objectionable, hence the object of these reticulated wallsandspaced floor boards is to gradually dissipate the current andgradually brin'g the tobogganists to a stop near said stairway U whichis one of the principal features of this invention. The reticulationsshould therefore, be very finenear the gate N and gradually becomelarger towards the header 34. I do not know of any law of nature bywhich the rate of dissipation can be figured exactly, but

it will besafe to make the reticulated area ample to'begin with, for iftoo great some portion of each or eitherwall can be boarded up and thusbring about the desired results.

The toboggan course need not to be more than eight feet wide, and theentrance'to the landing compartment K at the gate N should be the speedof the toboggan ists preparatory to land-' ing; as by divergence ofthesurface current over an area two or three times wider'than the gatewill lessen its velocity one-half or more, and

therefore materially lessen the speed of the to-. bogganists; even ifthe Y boundary walls were solid. In the latter case waterwill'passthrough the interstices of the floor of the" landing dock L, andthetobogganists and their sleds will be stopped by the lessening of thecurrent on account of its divergence over the greater area and thetendency to bank-up against the header 3%, which would probably bebefore they reached the stairway, hence the advisability of thereticulated walls. t v V The current which passes through the-reticulated wall. 8 flows directly into the main channel of thetcboggan course, but the current which passes throughth'e reticulatedpanel 8 in wall 7 and the water which is forced through the intersticesof the floor of the dock L by gravity flows into-the spillway T, whichis formed by the wall- 48 and the landing compartment header 34, and

thencealso into the main channel of the toboggan' course. v

-As shown in detail side view Fig. 2 and detail end View in Fig. 10 thetower 0 may be located Onla'nd, orover the-water far enough away on alongitudinal line with a straightaway stretch- 50 of the toboggancourse, so that the lower ends of one or more slides V will terminate ator near the surface of the water in the plunging compartment Y. Thespeed of the gliders as they plunge into the water will of course dependon the height of the tower and the length ofthe' slides, but the glidersshould contact the water at such a point as will enable them to coast bytheir momentum to the point Z which is the intersec tion of the plungingcompartment with the main channel of the toboggan course, and theirspeed at this point should not be greater than that of thecoasting'tobogganists who may be passing this intersection at the sametime in order to prelOO vent injuries from possible collisions with saidcoasting tobogganists. The water in the plunging compartment willnormally be of the status of standing water, but if desired a reversecurrent may be afforded by positioning a vertical'joint" 51 of thesuction line 44 of the pump S just below the surface under the lowerends of the slides 'V to tend to conteract the speed of the gliders.

The suction line 44 may run horizontally on or intake when the surfacehappens to be below itsnormal level and thereby make-said intakeadjustable as to depth submergence. The suction line intake should, ofcourse, be provided with a screen 45. Also the suction line should beprovided with a choke valve 55 so that the current of the toboggan'course may be increased, or de-' creased as may be desired from time totime.

As shown in detail in Fig. 4, the toboggan sled P is of the usual type,except that in this case it is provided with a float 37 nearthefront-end, which may be made of sheet cork, an inflatable bag, or anair-tight light metal box. The object of this buoyancy is to enable thetobogganists to keep their'heads' well above the surface during theircoasting periods. These sleds are also provided with hand-holds, whichmay be a rung 38 near the front-endto afford hand-holds for two, or tworopes39 may be attached to the frontend for the sarne purpose. Ifropesare used they should be provided with knots, or knobs 40 on theirloose ends so they will not easily slip through the hands of thetobogganists. Each sled is also provided with a stabilizer 41, whichconsists of a strip of metal attached to the middle of the underside andrunning lengthwise of the sled to lessen the tendency of turningsideways.

"The tower O and the slides V are of the usual type generally used atswimming resorts.

I The stairway U rests on the landing dock L and extends to the platformW on the top of the tower O.

. The sled skidway X rests on the landing dock L andextends to theplatform W on the topof the tower O. The sleds P may be pulled up to thebeen required to connect them to a hook 42-attached to a rope 43. Thishook should be heavy enough to slide down the sled skidway of its ownweight to a point conveniently accessible to the tobogganists, and therope 43 should be just long enough to permit the hook to reach thispoint when the upper end is fixed to the tower so that the attendantwill have nothing to do but pull up and detach the sleds.

A synopsis of what I believe are new, and novel, and useful features ashereindisclosed, are an endless butterminable toboggan water course,

convertible into a swimming cour e provided with compartment and onto alanding dock provided with reticulated walls and spaced flooring todiverge and dissipate the current in said landing compartment, andthereby gradually, but positively stop said tobogganists nearby astairway jleading up to the top of said tower and whereby paying anotherfee they may repeat the glide etc.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desireprotected byLetters Patent of i the United States is:

1. The combination of an endless water course, with nozzle headerspositioned in nozzle chambers recessed into the walls on each side ofthe water course and opposite to each other to produce lcurrent in andthroughout said endless water course.

2. The combination of an endless water course, with nozzle headerspositioned in nozzle chambers recessed into the walls on each side ofthe Iwater course and opposite each other to produce current inand/throughout said endless water course, and said nozzle headers to becomposed of ordinary galvanized water piping whose apertures are slitsfrom end to end of said pipes, and

l the combined aggregate length of the two headers being as long as theendless water course is wide.

3. The combination of an endless toboggan water. course wherein currentis produced, with a tower, a slide, and toboggan sleds; each of I saidsleds being provided with a float, hand-holds and a stabilizing keel,and in further combination with means to shunt the current and thetobogganists and their sleds from the toboggan course into a landingcompartment provided with means I todissipate the current in saidlanding compartment. 7

4. The combination of a toboggan tower, a toboggan slide and toboggansleds, with an endless toboggan water course provided with means vtoproduce current therein, and a gate manipulatable to obstruct saidtoboggan water course, and at the same time automatically open anothergate to shunt the tobogganists and their sleds into a landingcompartment and onto a landing dock,

, the side walls of said landing compartment being provided withreticulated panels to permit a considerable portion of the current topass through said panels, and said landing dock provided with a spacedfloor sloping from the bottom to a level I platform near, but under thesurface, to also permit water to how through said landing compartmentand to gradually, but positively stop the tobogganists near a stairwayleading .to the top of the tower.

5. The combination of an endless toboggan water course, provided with apump to produce current therein, with a toboggan tower, toboggan slidesand toboggan sleds, also a plunging compartment wherein tobogganists mayplunge and by virtue of their momentum coast into the current of thetoboggan water course, and the intake of said pump being suitablypositioned and adjustable as to depth submergencein said plungingcompartment as to optionally afford standing water, or a current to tendto counteract the momentum of the plunging tobogganists.

6. The combination of an endless water course, convertible to optionallyafford swimming, or water tobogganing, with elongated nozzle headerscomposed of two ordinary water pipes slit from end to end and whoseouter ends are closed and whose inner ends are threaded and screwed intoopposite ends of a T connected with a pump to produce a surface currentin and throughout said water course, and said nozzle headers beingpositioned in nozzle chambers recessed into the walls of said watercourse in pairs directly opposite each other. I

7. In an endless toboggan water course provided with a pump to produce acurrent in and throughout said toboggan water course, the combinationtherewith of a screened suction line whose intake is adjustable astodepth submergence.

8. The combination of an endless water course, provided with means toproduce a surface current therein, and shiftable gates to optionallyaiford terminable water tobogganing, with a tower, tobogganing slides,sleds, each provided with a float, hand-holds and a stabilizing keel, aplunging compartment interconnected with said endless water course, thescreened intake of a suction line adjustable as to depth submergencepositioned in said plunging compartment to partially counteract themomentum of plunging tobogganists when desired, and a landingcompartment obtusely formed to permit divergence and therefore,lessening of the current therein, and said landing compartment beingprovided with reticulated walls to permit dissipation of the current insaid landing compartment, and a landing dock within said landingcompartment whose floor is spaced to further assist in the dissipationof the current in said landing compartment and to gradually, butpositively bring the tobogganists to a full stop near a stairway leadingto the top of the tower, said landing dock being sloped from the bottomto; a level platform under, but near the surface, and said landing dockbeing provided with a header at the down stream of said landing dock,and a spillway to receive the

